Dana White seems genuinely interested in signing undefeated Kayla Harrison to the UFC. So naturally he does what anyone does when they are looking to do business, and dismisses her skills and the opponents she has faced.
White has been dismissive of Harrison for a while, but that has really amped up over the last few weeks as the Olympic judoka prepares to test free agency after winning another PFL tournament. While he has admitted to being interested in signing her if that is an option, he has also gone as far as to say that she should stay in the PFL where competition is easy.
This was something he continued while speaking in a recent interview with Yahoo! Sports. In an attempt to seemingly downplay how good Kayla is, the UFC President said that if champ-champ Amanda Nunes was fighting the same people as Kayla, it would end very badly for those ladies.
“Kayla Harrison hasn’t fought anybody yet,” White said (h/t MMAFighing). “She hasn’t fought anybody. Let me put in Amanda Nunes in with the girls that she’s fought – might be the first death in MMA, OK? And listen, I like her, I’ve got nothing against her. But c’mon, let’s be honest.”
Dana White Is Trying To Low-ball Kayla Harrison
While there are certainly some validity to the points Dana White is making, his overall argument is quite flawed. The biggest hole in it being that Kayla Harrison competes in a division that does not even exist in the UFC.
Other than a lone fight at 145lb, she has traditionally fought at lightweight, a division that hardly exists at all outside the PFL, so naturally none of her opponents are going to be big names. However that same argument is applied if she does sign to the UFC and agree to fight at featherweight where, even years after it was introduced, there are no ranked fighters outside of champ Amanda Nunes.
The fact is, Dana White has expressed interest in Kayla Harrison as a potential talent, so there’s a solid chance he keeps saying things like this so that he can negotiate at a lower rate. That said, there is a chance of these comments backfiring and making Kayla not even interested in the UFC anymore.
